Eight Ways to Run Your Business As Efficiently as Possible

A: Use task management software. “Email isn’t an ideal method of communication or collaboration on teams. At Hubstaff, we use task management software like Trello so that our communication and work progress is all in one place. It saves everyone the time of having to go back and forth on emails, and it also lets us track progress more efficiently.” Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

Automate what you can. “Business automation is not just a luxury; it is a necessity in today’s competitive environment. Automating monotonous tasks saves your employees time and allows them to do more productive tasks that require critical thinking or a human touch. In addition to bolstering efficiency in the business, automation can cut costs in the long run (even though it might be pricey in the present).” Sathvik Tantry, FormSwift

Encourage face-to-face interaction. “Skype, Google Chat and other online communication tools are always helpful when trying to shoot over a quick message to your colleagues. However, face-to-face interaction really speeds up the process of solving a problem, answering a question or getting something important clarified. Encouraging employees to openly talk with each other when they need to will create a steady flow of information.” Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

Hold a daily, 10-minute company meeting. “Each day, we gather as a company for a 10-minute meeting called the Daily Huddle. The meeting serves as a firehose of information that keeps everyone in the loop, including a roundup of our key performance indicators, the celebration of accomplishments, and the identification of opportunities to improve. This process keeps us running efficiently as unnecessary meetings are eliminated.” David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

“Single-task” to get more done. “Our entire company is currently working on upping our ‘single-tasking’ game and not moving on to the next project until the current one is complete. ‘Single-tasking’ allows you to get more done quickly by not letting projects rot on the vine when they’re almost complete. It’s easy to falsely feel productive when you have 10 projects going on, but nothing actually getting out into the world.” Laura Roeder, MeetEdgar.com

Discourage “Got a minute?” meetings. “One of the most common and inefficient uses of time and energy are frequent ‘Got a minute?’ meetings. These meetings are the ones that are unscheduled and typically distract from productivity. The reality is that almost nothing important can be accomplished in one minute, which means one minute turns into 15 minutes or longer and ends up being a terribly inefficient management of time.” Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

Stick with the process. “Stick with the process that is established. If we try to cut corners to speed up the process, something gets missed, which must be fixed later and costs time and money. Things go more smoothly if we stick to the process we started with. Processes can be changed, but they should be changed intentionally and with communication to the full team after the potential change has been approved.” Angela Harless, AcrobatAnt

Know when to stop. “Efficiency is important — no question. But for startups and entrepreneurs, focusing too much on efficiency can distract from what is really important for our businesses: growth. At SiteLock, we do focus on efficiency in key areas: hardware utilization, service-level agreements, etc., but we always remind ourselves that our most important goal is growth. This includes customers served, products offered, and brand strength.” Neill Feather, SiteLock, LLC